Notes
Where to start? It was a fun weekend, but kind of a weird race experience. We were required to leave the elite tent and go to the start line ~15 minutes before the start of the race. On the startline coral, there was absolutely no place to do any sort of strides slash we weren't allowed to do any... I managed to get a few strides in about 20 minutes before the race on a side street. I was a little late getting back to the elite tent and they almost didn't let me back in! Then we were packed like sardines in the "elite" coral. I put elite in quotes because apparently "elite" means anything faster than 28minutes to 8k, so there were a ton a people in front of us that really didn't need to be there... plus our whole team was about 2 rows back from the front. I don't know the last time I got off the line so slow! Also, since there were so many people it made it difficult to jump around and stay loose. I accidentally landed on a woman's foot after hoping around trying to stay loose, I felt bad for a second then I got over it. Enough ranting though.
Once the race started, we had the wind at our back but I still didn't feel quite right after standing in one place for so long. I let the other Movin Shoes guys go at the start because I wanted to take the first mile a little easier to get back warmed up after freezing on the startline. I felt pretty bad through the first mile coming through in about 4:55 and I was worried that I went out too fast. Then somewhere between mile 1 and 2 I started feeling better especially once I caught back up with Cory, Francis, and Alex. From there I remember seeing splits on the clocks at the markers for miles 2, 3, and 4 but I have no clue how accurate they were. Mile 2 was 9:36, Mile 3 was 14:27 (5k 15:05), and Mile 4 was 19:17. The splits might be accurate between mile marks, but the actual time was probably a bit slower because I definitely didn't close the last mile over 5 minute pace (.97 miles in 4:54 = 5:02 pace). There was a small hill going over a bridge with about 400m to go, but it wouldn't have been enough to make that last part that slow especially since the last 300m was downhill with the wind at our back.
Then there was the wind! I really liked having less than "ideal" conditions. With all the buildings the wind was a sorts of crazy! One second it was dead calm and the next we'd have 40mph gusts which literally felt like I stopped moving. It was pretty comical at times how strong the wind would be for 2-3 seconds at a time. Most of the time there was still some sort of headwind or sidewind, but I didn't bother me that much. Honestly, most of the race I don't even remember. I stayed tucked behind some Playmaker runners and Run n Fun runners, then later Cory, Alex, and I took turns taking the wind without really organizing anything.
Moving Shoes was 3rd with a $2000 prize to split among the 5 of us, which will be a nice $400 payday! I was 4th for our team, but our 2-5 guys were within a 6 second spread! Overall it was a really fun weekend. Very happy with my performance and I looking forward to some more fast races laster this spring.